


The Monster Lurks

by aurumdalseni (kyo_chan)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, everyone please help Shiro, protect Shiro at all costs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-21
Updated: 2017-02-21
Packaged: 2018-09-26 02:56:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9858974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kyo_chan/pseuds/aurumdalseni
Summary: Shiro's demons are always waiting just under the surface of any brave front he could ever give. As the bond among team Voltron becomes stronger, he won't have to fight them alone.





	

**Author's Note:**

> From my [Voltron blog](http://paladinpuppypile.tumblr.com), the prompt "I'm a monster" - Shiro/everyone
> 
> I seem to have a weak spot for Shiro being comforted. He's been through so much, and he just needs someone to tell /him/ everything is going to be okay. He doesn't seem to believe it for himself. Hope you enjoy it! Feel free to stop by and talk/prompt me. I never get tired of screaming about paladins.

It was just a feeling at first.. A creepy-crawly sensation that slithered along their bond and made an uneasy home in their stomachs. 

_...have I done?...monster… _

Keith drew up from a light doze in his bed to the nauseous feeling in his gut. A low key adrenaline had already started its course through his veins, and his hand closed around the hilt of his dagger. There was no danger anywhere near him, and it was only when he blinked some of the sleep from his eyes that he realized the fear wasn’t his. He shoved the covers back, knife still gripped tightly, and ran for the source of it.

_...broken… _

Pidge blinked at the characters written across her laptop screen. They were in Altean, but she knew enough by now to be able to translate them right back. She hadn’t even remembered typing them, she was shaking off a terrible shudder of fear. She sucked in her breath.  **_I am a broken soldier_ ** . She put the computer down and got to her feet. This feeling wasn’t hers, and she knew it. She took off for the training deck.

_...monster like me… _

The words were loud. Louder than the beats coming in through his headphones. Lance toweled off his face and stared in the mirror as the music faded in and out of focus, distorted. The bass of it felt all too much like his pounding heartbeat. When he squinted at the features in his reflection, they were more square, his teeth clenched as if he was in pain. His chest hurt, and he stared harder. A slash of bright blood red smeared across the bridge of his nose a shock of white on his forehead. This wasn’t-- He yanked back, blinking furiously around tears until his own face swam back into focus. He uttered his leader’s name, kicking off his slippers and bolting for the door. 

_...unclean...unworthy… _

Hunk had beaten all of them there, and he stood at the entrance to the training deck with his jaw gone slack, and mind racing as to how to approach the lone eye of the storm, the black paladin. At Shiro’s feet were the remnants of several Altean drones, their pieces and parts scattered, crushed. The limp metallic form of the gladiator was twisted not far from them, limbs askew and holes within its torso still smoking with the burn of scalding quintessence. Shiro’s hand was still bright like fire and buried into his hair. Grey eyes were wide and saw nothing but a mangled mess. Whether it was the one he had created in the training room or something only to be found behind his eyelids, he was living the monstrosity of it like a shattered loop, a black hole.

Now that they had all found him, the fragments of what they’d been hearing and feeling were amplified, like being broadcast over a loudspeaker in the depths of their souls. It resonated along their bond, pulling them all in. 

_ I’m a monster. I’m a monster.  _ **_I’m a monster_ ** .

They looked at each other, terrified. It had been bad before, not  _ this _ bad. It threatened to pull them each into a depthless pool of their own demons. 

_ I’ll never find them alive. _

_ I’ll die before we win. _

_ I’ll never be good enough. _

_ I’ll never know who I am. _

Hunk tore himself out of the loop first, and reached with all his golden warmth out to catch the other three before he could lose them along with Shiro. He didn’t need words, those were dangerous. They could accidentally become promises no one could keep, unintentional lies that would do more harm than good. They couldn’t hurt Shiro any more than he’d already been hurt; they couldn’t risk hurting each other. As Hunk touched each one of them through the bond, he sought their hands, and one by one, they made the physical link that flared the mental one brighter.

_ You’re not a monster, you never were. _

_ I’m gonna follow you til the end. _

_ You’ve always been my hero. _

_ If it wasn’t for you, my life would have been a lot different. _

**_Come back to us, Shiro_ ** .

When Shiro opened his eyes, he was surrounded by warm arms and familiar scents. They were still on the training deck, but when he turned his head, there was no signs of the destruction he’d waged on anything that had gotten close. Someone was stroking the hair away from his face.

“Welcome back,” Lance greeted him, and his smile was tender, fearless.

Shiro’s mouth worked, words that tasted dirty waiting on his tongue to fall free. It was Hunk that pressed a finger to his lips. “Everything’s all right now. We’ve got you.”

Sure enough, they were all there, all of them with their hands on him, holding him, protecting him. At the back of his mind was a steady, pulsing sense of color. Shifting and changing, all of them familiar shades, all of them very intimately connected with him. No matter what color it was or which path he followed, they were all familiar, they all welcomed him in. He let out a shuddering breath. 

_ I’m sorry _ .

They pulled him closer, sharing space and warmth and breath. Without words, they all told him he didn’t need to be.


End file.
